1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to network communications, and more particularly to monitoring and managing network performance.
2. Description of the Background Art
In the operation of interconnected networks, it is often desirable to have a mechanism for monitoring the state of equipment and devices in the network. Traditionally, this has been accomplished using a centrally-based network management system, with a plurality of individual network management systems feeding up to the central network management system in a conventional tree hierarchy. Equipment and devices would similarly feed up to the individual network management systems in a conventional tree hierarchy. Unfortunately, such a architecture for a network management system does not scale well and does not provide for propagation of state and configuration information among a set of cooperating systems.